A Different Kind of Future
by Goodreader22
Summary: It is the year 2007. Sonic and friends are working for G.U.N to help mantain the peace. The days just seem to go by since it was mostly Eggman up to no good. But then, on what appeared to be just another day, something terrible happened that forever changed the face of the Earth...


A Different Kind of Future

 ***WARNING!: This story contains mildly intense violence, almost strong language, and a bit of blood.**

 **Chapter 1:**

"Hey Sonic, can you get me that wrench?", I said. "You know, I wonder if we will ever get any vacation time", he said as he handed me the wrench. "What are you doing anyways?". "Nothing much, just adding a few modifications to my plane. Besides, even if we do get vacation time, they'll probably mistake you for someone else and arrest you... again". "Heh, well, I haven't seen that certain "someone" in about a year". "Yeah, well I'm gonna finish up here and go home. I'll see you tomorrow. Take care of yourself buddy." "You too". The next day, me and the team (Me, Sonic, and Knuckles) were called to G.U.N headquarters to be briefed on our new assignment. Usually it's not much, but today was different. Once we arrived, there wasn't anyone outside. We went inside and there wasn't anyone there either. It was quiet; too quiet. Something seemed off. We decided to split up and look for some personnel to ask them what happened. We all went to check different rooms and I went to the security room to go see what the cameras recorded. When I got there, I noticed there was some blood on top of the controls. All the footage was gone, too. We had definetely been ambushed, but it was never like this. It wasn't Eggman because there's no signs of robots anywhere and there were bullet holes in the walls. Weird though, there wasn't any blood. It looks like whoever came here didn't want to kill them, but from the looks of it, the guy in the security room put up a fight. After quickly examining the area, I call for backup, but neither the radio nor my cellphone was working. It's like someone was jamming the signal. Then, a broadcast starts playing in the monitors. It appears to be the G.U.N soldiers from the facility all tied up and blindfolded and sitting right next to some explosives. A voice can be heard. "You need to press the red button next to the keyboard or they will all die", said the mysterious voice. I've never seen that button there before, I thought to myself. "What does it do?" "It does what I want it to do, that's all you need to know." All of a sudden, I hear Sonic on my earpiece. "Tails! Don-- pr-ss th-t but--n! It launch-s a mi-- at--k!". The signal was all scrambled, but I could guess what he said. "You know I can't do that", I said to the voice. "I will kill them all if you don't. Then I will kill you and your friends and do it myself". "Why are you doing this?" "My name is Zero. That is what I have left after you took everything from me". "But we didn't take anything from you!" "You'll understand soon enough". Honestly, it felt like I didn't have a choice. So I did it; I pushed the button. What followed was some of the hardest years of my life. A war began and everyone thinks G.U.N is responsible for the attack. We didn't have any evidence to say otherwise. I don't even know how Sonic managed to get those few seconds of radio contact to tell me that it was a missile launch. Knuckles went outside and walked until he could find a signal and called for backup soon after. That's when we were seperated. Me, Sonic, and Knuckles were to find out what happened.

 **Chapter 2:**

 **The day after**

..."It's not your fault", said Sonic, "You didn't have a choice. All we can do now is save the world". "But how?", I asked. "We don't have any intel and we don't have many resources available to us right now. Every day will just get worse and more people will get needlessly hurt. We're just 3 heroes. We can't save the world all by ourselves, and at this point, I don't even know if we can". "How could you say that?! Who else is going to step up and defeat the bad guys? It's live free or die trying. If we don't act now, there won't be anything left to save." "But I don't want to lose you or any of my friends in the process. How are we even going to find help?" "We won't lose anyone. And even if we do, they'll be up there waiting for the rest of us. Look, I know someone. You know, "him". We see what information he has to offer and we save the world... and my chili dogs." "What if he doesn't help?" "I know he will. It's in his best interests. We just have to track him down". After a few weeks of searching, we found him. Now it's time to go meet him...

 **Chapter 3:**

As we travel to what feels like the middle of nowhere, we find a small shack. Once we go inside, we're greeted with a 1911 pointed at us, followed with a "Why are you here?" After explaining everything, he sighs and then thinks about what we should do. "Well, there's no way to stop the war", said Shadow, "but if we stop Zero, things will get better before they can get even worse. I'll see what information I can get. In the meantime, try and get his attention. Maybe that will draw him out in the open or at least someone who works for him." Being a detective is not so different from being a scientist. The way I see it, the crime scene is the experiment. The first step is to observe and analyze the information and/or evidence. The second step is to come up with a hypothesis of what you think happened. The third step is to research and find more information to see if your hypothesis was correct. The fourth step is the conclusion and the fifth step is to publish it. Of course the methods are different, but the process is the same. The difference is that in the last step, either the police keep a file of the case for everyone who's authorized to see it and/or a reporter publishes the case on the news or newspaper for everyone to see. Of course, nowadays Shadow is more of a private eye rather than a detective, but he's got a good amount of experience.

 **Chapter 4:**

"So what's the plan?", Sonic said. "Easy; make some noise. Go in and sabotage enemy supplies. Try not to kill anyone. I'm worried they'll start targeting civilians soon, so it's better if we don't try to provoke them. They think we're the bad guys now. But if we can mess with them a bit, word will get around about us. Try and gather the rest of the team and we'll have a word with G.U.N. They had to fight or they'd die. It's not like they had a choice, but we do.", I said. "Right, so what if we see one of Zero's guys?" "We catch him and make him tell us where he is. He'll be hard to find though because I'm pretty sure he'll only send like one person to spy on us or gather intel, so he'll be trained. Just keep an eye out. We'll know when we see him." "You know he's not the kind of person to break easily..." "Everyone has a breaking point. We'll get him to tell us sooner or later".

 **May 29, 2007:**

"Ok, so the camp should be up ahead. According to our intelligence, there should be two guards in the front, two in the watch towers, and a few inside. I think our best option would be to trip a false alarm. I can hack it easily and we could put some firecrackers in the front to distract them and then we sneak in from the back. Remember: if you get spotted, knock them out or use your tranquilizer gun. We set their supplies on fire when we enter the room and leave immediately. The escape route is through the forest next to the base. We can lose them pretty easily there. Any questions?" "Yeah, I got a question. Will we still make it back in time for lunch?", said Knuckles. "Very funny. Let's just go do this and get out." Boy, did we do that quite a few times. Each time was a different strategy and a new base. After 3 bases, we stopped because they started to notice the pattern, so we went to an abandonded house in enemy territory. It seemed like we were being followed, but I still wanted to keep the element of suprise. "You're sure we weren't being followed?", said Sonic. "Yes, I'm sure", I told him. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?" "I was thinking of going for one last base..." It was all lies. We knew he was outside the window recording. He thinks we didn't see him. I told Knuckles to go get me some water and looked at the window without turning my head, which was the signal for "he's here". Should've seen the look on his face when we got him. That thing about "he doesn't break easily"? It didn't happen like that. He told us where Zero was and what he was planning. He said "if anyone gets their hands on that kind of technology, soon, the war will be fought by robots." He also said Zero was planning to kill him when he was done with him. Seems like Zero should've been a better boss. Bad guys are always bad bosses. Although, what do we do now? Do we tell G.U.N about this or do we go in ourselves? Was this guy really telling the truth? He seemed pretty convincing. He said he had a family and it's hard to provide for them at times like this. "I think the best idea would be to let him go and bring Zero down. We go back and tell G.U.N that we found a major fuel supply and we could take it over by ourselves with the right supplies", I said. "I got as good of a feeling as you can get when walking into an armed fortress guarded by robots", said Sonic. "Yeah but what do we tell them when we come back empty-handed?", asked Knuckles. "We tell them it was rigged to explode. We destroy it, kill Zero and get it over with. I'll come up with something along the way", I said. Then the phone rings. "Hello?" "It's Shadow. I found some information regarding Zero." "Yes we already know. We found someone who told us everything." "I know you did. The information I brought you was the blueprints to his fortress." "Where'd you find that?" "I found one of his spies and convinced him to get it for me. Looks like everyone who works for him is turning against him. There are only a few loyal employees. I was lucky to find him, because Zero doesn't hire many people. Word is he's close to hacking G.U.N's weapons and files and leaking them to the enemy and vice-versa. Whatever you're gonna do, do it quick". "Thanks." "Good luck kid. I don't do pep-talks". Now the pressure's on. "I can't believe he's almost past my firewall", I said. "Yeah well, anyone else's firewall and he would've gotten through already", said Sonic. "Well, let's get this show on the road".

 **Chapter 5** :

 **June 1, 2007:**

"So where is it Tails?", said Sonic. "I'm getting a large signal from my metal detector, so it should be around here somewhere. Look for something unsuspecting", I said. It's gotta be underground. "Found it", said Knuckles. "Already? Well let's go. And remember: he's probably expecting us." "Whoa, it's bigger than I thought.", said Sonic. It's this huge silver fortress. "Give me the x-ray binoculars", I said. When I look around, I see all kinds of modern and advanced technology; things that I've never even seen before. High resolution security cameras, 2 robots made out of titanium with two mounted miniguns each and some small missiles and a highly potent laser. This isn't the kind of stuff that you can just hack or get past them, which is why we brought the best weaponry we have available. Barrett .50 caliber sniper with armor piercing rounds, rocket launchers, grenades, etc. "I see a weak spot in those robots right in their eyes. If I can get a shot from here, they'll go down. I should snipe from here and you guys go distract them.", I said. "Are you sure about this? We're 500 meters out and it's pretty cold down here.", said Knuckles. "Yeah, I'm sure. My arm might hurt a bit afterwards, but I've trained for this. I know how to make all the right calculations. It's not that far anyways." It feels weird how Zero made a long bridge underground. There are some vehicles that Sonic and Knuckles can use for some small cover, which means I need to be quick. I still can't understand why he made such a long bridge. It's like the size of a runway. Maybe he was planning for that. I can't imagine what kind of futuristic aircraft he was planning to build. There's probably some entrance above, but it's too dark to see since I can't see the ceiling. Sonic and Knuckles went driving in what felt and looked like futuristic golf carts. They brought some riot shields, but those won't last too long against those robots. I calculate wind, altitude, temperature, distance and other factors that will affect the shot. Even the gun you're shooting affects the shot, since some sniper rifles are better than others, either in stopping power, range, or bullet velocity, which is measured in FPS (feet per second). There's hardly any wind, but since I'm not in a vantage point, it's going to be harder. Recoil is going to hit like a... well you know. It doesn't hurt as much with the shoulder pads though, not that they make a big difference. Once they get there, they fire the rocket launchers, but it hardly did anything besides stun it for a few seconds. Still, it was enough time for me to take a shot. Normally in a situation like this, you'd be nervous, but I'm calm. I'm supposed to be. I lower my heartbeat, slow down my breathing and concentrate... ***BAM!*** Hit in the left eye! Even with the noise-proof headphones I could still hear the shot very loudly. One down, one to go. The AP (armor-piercing) rounds are extra effective. Unfortunately, the other robot decided to fire a missile at me. With what little reaction time I had, I spun my tails in a circular motion and ran as fast as I could. Carrying the .50 cal slowed me down, but I needed it, so I couldn't leave it behind. The impact of the explosion pushed me, knocked me down, and left my ears ringing and my head hurting. I stayed down and set up my sniper rifle with the bipod. The robot starts shooting the minigun at Sonic and Knuckles and they use their riot shields. I try to forget the ringing and focus on hitting the final shot. It's almost the same as the first one. I take a breather for two seconds. I steady my pulse again and... ***BAM!*** Hit in the right eye! He goes down and I take a sigh of relief. That's why you _shoot with both eyes open_. That's it. He doesn't have any more defenses except a gun. "Holy shiz dude, nice shooting! Who taught you to shoot like that?", said Sonic. "Heh, thanks. I taught myself. I'm a quick learner. The general saw me practicing one day and thought I should be a sniper. Never had to use it much though", I said. "Hey, we need to hurry up, ok? We don't wanna give him too much time to prepare", said Knuckles. "Ok, go plant the charges". We brought some charges to blow up the wall and get through the door. "Ok, get ready!", said Sonic, "...3 ...2 ...1 ...detonate!" ***BOOM!*** "Come to finish me off?", said Zero. He had a shotgun pointed us. "I will never forgive you for what you did 14 years ago..."

 **Chapter 6:**

 **August 15, 1993:**

"I'll get you this time, Sonic!", said Dr. Eggman. He had made a remote-controlled airplane that drops bombs. "Please, I can easily take that down!", said Sonic. Sonic and Tails were too fast for the airplane's bombs, so he used the heat-seeking missiles. Sonic guided the missile back to the plane and it went crashing down somewhere far away. "Curses! I'll make sure you're the one going down next time!", said Dr. Eggman. Meanwhile, Zero and his parents went out for a walk. But then, something terrible happened. The plane was gonna crash on top of them. Zero's dad pushed him out of the way on time, but it was too late for them. His parents had been accidentally killed. Ever since that day, he's been seeking revenge.

 **Present day:**

"...But we couldn'tve possibly known!", said Sonic. "And you never even bothered to say sorry! You never think about the consequences of your actions!", said Zero. "But it wasn't my actions, it was Eggman's actions! If it weren't for him, we wouldn'tve been there in the first place!" "Yeah, but you're the one who crashed the plane!" "And how could you possibly know that?" "Because I know! It was always between you and Eggman!" "You killed far more people! Innocent people! Why do they have to suffer so that you can get your revenge?" "Because nobody helped me that day! I was all alone! I have been for my entire life! That's why. That's why everyone must know my suffering!" ***BAM!*** Knuckles shoots Zero. "Wtf man!", said Sonic. "What? He was boring me! He would've killed you anyways.", said Knuckles. "Let's just blow up the place already and get out of here.", I said.

...Mission successful?

Didn't feel like it. If it helps, we were sorry.

 **Chapter 7:**

 **The next day:**

"Hey did you hear the news about the thing?", asked Sonic. "No, what is it?", I said. "G.U.N actually managed to dig up some robot parts from the remains." "So we still failed..." "Yeah, and what's worse is that now things are really starting to heat up. The enemy managed to destroy our anti-air and missile defenses. Seems like there was a traitor on our side." "Was it the spy we let go?" "No, it wasn't him. It was someone from G.U.N. They want to launch a pre-emptive strike, and to make matters worse, they developed robots based on the parts they found and that traitor also leaked the blueprints, so the enemy has them too". "That sounds pretty bad. But you know, I've got a feeling we have a chance in this. We'll figure something out." "Yeah, 'cause a couple of rockets and a sniper ain't gonna cut it this time", said Knuckles.

Technology makes things worse.

There wasn't really anything we could do. The missile strikes were in just a few hours. "For now, we wait it out. We don't want to annoy G.U.N and we'll get blown up if we try to sabotage the enemy. We wait for our next assignment and tackle our problems head-on", I said. Well, I think it's pretty clear what happened. Explosions here... explosions there... I honestly felt kind of helpless, like I just had to watch the world tear itself apart while I couldn't do anything. There was something I was doing, but it wasn't really helping. The whole ordeal lasted slightly over a month.

 **July 4, 2007:**

"Hey, happy Independence Day!", said Sonic. "Same to you bud. Wish we could see some fireworks", I said. "Oh we will... just not with colors. Check this out." "Looks like an ordinary frag grenade". "Looks can be deceiving. This is one of the new weapons developed by G.U.N. It has a much higher blast radius than a normal grenade. Want to test it out?" "Sure, why not?" Holidays; nowadays we don't have much time to celebrate them the way we should. We went to the explosives range and tried it out. It was very impressive. Probably one of the loudest ***BANG!*s** that I've ever heard. Unfortunately, that's all the free time we have for today. Now's our next assignment: assist SAR (search and rescue) teams to help find civilians. Me, Sonic, and Knuckles will assist different teams. Intel shows that some enemy robots managed to infiltrate our territory, so we have to keep an eye out. We need to evacuate the civilians to safety so that they can get proper food, rest, and shelter. Most are waiting in the hospitals, so we go there first. Then we go house to house.

Sounds easy enough, right?

It never is.

 **Chapter 8:**

Hospitals: check. Stores: check. Bank: check Houses: check

Seemed a little too easy. Made me bring my AS50 for nothing. On the way back, we see a little kid screaming for help. "There's a robot on the loose!", he said. "Where? And where are your parents?" " We split up to confuse the robot, but it's coming after me!" _They must not be that fast_ , I thought. _But why target civilians_? _The first missile attack (the accidental one) must've killed some innocent people. It still doesn't make it right to target them like this_. A few moments later, we saw the robot. It looked like a less powerful version of the one I remember; only two small missiles (instead of six) and it wasn't made of titanium, although it still had the two miniguns. I quickly grab my rifle and fire as fast as I can. No time to concentrate. I put a noticeable dent in it's armor. Just as it was about to use it's minigun, I fire again, but only this time it was at it's head. It seems to have lost it's coordination since it started firing missiles randomly and shooting at the buildings and cars around us. Now I know I have time to focus. I take one well aimed shot at it's weak spot and easily take it down. This all happened in such a short amount of time. Just when we thought we were in the clear, some crazy enemy shows up and throws a grenade right at the little boy. I panicked and shoved him out of the way to absorb the impact of the explosion, and then I blacked out.

 **July 6, 2007:**

"...Ugh, what happened?". "We had to perform surgery", said Amy. Amy is a nurse that tends to the wounded in the infirmary. I can't really imagine her in combat since she's the kind, compassionate, and understanding type. "Is the little boy ok?" "He's fine. You on the other hand lost practically half your face, one of your ears and half of the other ear, which was basically both. You were both fortunate and unfortunate. You were fortunate that it was some of our newer armor, although your helmet didn't cover your ears. You were unfortunate that it exploded right next to your head, but thankfully it wasn't one of our grenades. Now, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is you'll never be the same person you used to be. The good news is you get to be the first to try out some of our new cyborg technology. We added a few upgrades and we made a ton of advancements with the stuff we found. I wish we were never at war in the first place and this wouldn'tve happened, but we did the best we could". "Cool, I even get a futuristic cannon!" "It's removable, in case you were wondering." "No, it's fine. I'll go try it out. Umm... I'll see you around". When I got out of the infirmary, I get probably one of the best hugs I've gotten in months. "Are you ok? You had me worried!", said Sonic. "I'm fine. They even gave me a cannon!" "A Canon? Are you gonna take photos with it?", said Knuckles. "No, not that kind of cannon. It looks like a plasma, laser, or energy cannon. I'll know when I test it. They had a new foot model too, but my feet are fine and I love my shoes too much to let go of one of them."

 **Ten minutes later...**

"Ok, let's try it out", I said. It starts charging up and then shoots some purple beam. It melted the target, and the target was made out of steel. "Whoa, that's pretty cool!", said Sonic. "Shame I might have to leave it behind sometimes so I can snipe from afar, but I'll try and bring it when I can". Technology makes things worse **and** better. Now if only my plane was strong enough to stand up to those robots...

 **Chapter 9:**

 **September 9, 2007:**

We had two months of training with all the new stuff that came out. It still seems like everything went by so quickly. I can't imagine how many scientists and researchers they must've had working on that stuff. I gotta say, I'm excited to try out that new fighter jet. It's got a cannon on the bottom just like the one they gave me, but bigger. It's got two smaller cannons on the side as well. They've got prototype shi- er... stuff like you've never seen before. I put in a one-use shield that I had on my other plane, just in case, so that I won't start taking damage on the first hit (not that I'll need it). You know, all this stuff has got me thinking about how I haven't time to do anything else. No time for reading books, listening to music, playing guitar, or just hanging out with my friends. I miss those days where we used to take turns driving around in a white twin-turbo 1998 Toyota Supra around as fast as we could, back when we didn't really worry about our reputation. Even though we could probably go faster than that Supra, it was still really fun. I used to want it ever since it came out '93 and we finally got one 11 years later. As for how we got it, let's just say some luck was involved and we came into a lot of money. As soon as this war is over, I can start living my own life again. For now, I'll just play along and try to enjoy the ride. "Man, we're lucky. A lot of people lost their homes and some lost family members. We're all here with everything we have still standing", said Knuckles. "Yeah, but for how long?", said Sonic. "Depends on how well we fight. Which reminds me, what's our next move?". "Well, you two are going to use the remote-controlled robots and I go out there and provide air support", I said. "You'd think that they if could come up with remote-controlled robots, they'd be able to come up with remote controlled fighter jets...", said Knuckles. "Some things can't be remote-controlled. Fighter jets, tanks, and snipers are three of them." "What about cars?" "Where's the fun in that?" "Let's just go. It'll be like playing the new Time Crisis... 4 or 5 or whatever number they're on. The main difference is we have air support and limited ammo", said Sonic. "Say, what do you think about the new 'virtual reality' training simulator?", asked Knuckles. "It's still in development, but it could be pretty useful someday, although I don't think it can beat the real thing.", I said. Old-school controls. Way to make war feel like an arcade game. I on the contrary, got the real deal. The targeting system should make it even easier. Keep an eye on my fuel and use flares if necessary, and mind the G-Force I might face, should I ever get in a dogfight (firefight with another pilot), which according to intel, there are no known enemy fighter jets on the horizon due to the fact that we have air dominance over the area. For those of you who don't know, G-Force is this kind of pressure pilots face when they're flying in such a way that gravity emits heavy pressure on them. It makes it hard to breathe. 2 Gs is basically you weighing twice your size. We can only handle up to 9 Gs, and holding it for more than 10 seconds (give or take) could make you pass out, depending on the pilot and the amount of training they've had. The mission is to destroy a major fuel supply. Yes, we're doing it for real this time. Fuel produces electricity and electricity keeps everything running. No fuel, no electricity; no electricity, no robots. That's why they're so heavily guarded. Thankfully, we have the technological advantage... for now. Who exactly are we fighting? A better question is who aren't we fighting? Third-world countries got taken over easily. It was like Monopoly in real life, except instead of adding houses it was weapon factories, fuel and water reservoirs, and greenhouses (agriculture). Food, water, fuel, and guns; all these elements together remind me of someone... or somewhere. When this mission is over, I'll go to my house, which is really a lab where I can sleep and cook in. The last time I saw it, it was still standing. Damaged, but still standing. It seemed kind of burned on the outside, but the materials used to build it were so strong, most of it withstood everything that was thrown at it. But back to the subject at hand; we take over everything, we win. Then we restore peace.

 **Chapter 10:**

So the mission went by something like this: I make a pass, gun down some robots, gun down some more on the way back to base to restock ammo (and fuel), and make another pass. It's more exciting in person. The cannons pierce through the robots and melt through them with one shot. The targeting system helps lock on to targets very quickly and fire at them. I wasn't exactly doing barrel rolls, but I dodged the missiles like a pro. Sonic and Knuckles were down there shooting missiles and miniguns and keeping the other robots busy. But after I cleared out most of the targets, I went back to base, grabbed my brand new plasma sniper rifle that had some sort of energy-infused bullets and I went over there. A helicopter dropped me off. Now these are special bullets. They negate the effects of wind and gravity. That means the bullets go straight. I aimed with my good eye. The gun sounded like a combination of a plasma gun and a regular sniper rifle. It's an all-you-can-shoot buffet. Now I didn't have to aim for the weak points. I aimed for the head, which was one of the other places to get an easy killshot. There were several hundred robots. Yeah, "were". War is expensive.

 **Back at the base...**

"Nice shooting out there.", said Sonic. "Thanks. But all that shooting and destroying robots made me wonder: how is the economy ever gonna recover if it's all based on the war?", I said. "Things will just go back to the way they were, except with better technology that will help us grow even faster. There will be more jobs, education, and opportunities as well. Those weapon factories will probably turn into some other kind of factory. Musicians will be able to make it back too, economically speaking", said Sonic. "Well that's great, because maybe then I'll get a chance to become a guitarist (practicing since 1996) and join a band and go around performing concerts around the world (or at least around the states) putting smiles on peoples' faces and on mine as well and we both have a good time".

 ***DING!***

"Oh, that was the oven! Dinner's ready! I made lasagña!" Homecooked dinner. I made it because it's a special occasion. Cooking is a lot like science, so that's why I find it easy. Put in the right ingredients and measurements and do the steps right and you get good food. You can experiment with the ingredients too to make new recipes. I may not be a 5-star chef, but I can cook pretty well. "Man, what did you put to make it taste so good?", said Sonic. "I put all the regular stuff... and the secret ingredient to give it the good flavor... cream cheese! And a bit of pepperoni", I said. Which reminds me... where is Cream and Cheese during all of this? Eh, I guess it doesn't matter. Once I fix all of this with my master plan, everything will be fine. It will just take a long while. I'll go to my house later and then have a word with the general to take it into effect.

 **Chapter 11:**

" _Wow, it's completely intact on the inside!_ ", I thought to myself. I quickly go grab my research and a few other things. It's the biggest project I've been working on and it's still not finished. 10 years so far. It might take another 50 or so, 40 if we're fast. "I'll miss this place, and my plane".

My skills were pushed to the edge throughout the next few decades. As I kept doing missions, I got better and better. I've done missions everywhere. Water, Air, Desert, Forest, you name it. I even got to crack open a few safes. They're the old safes where you can hear the clicks when you get the right number. Why not the new safes, you ask? Because you could easily check them for finger or glove prints and get the code. Sure there were better ones with long codes, but they didn't exactly have materials to waste on making safes. My favorite ones were the winter missions because winter is my favorite season and I'm used to the cold. Scary, really. You start to forget what life was like before the war. Materials kept getting more and more scarce. Surveys predict they will run out by 2067. Things are bad, really bad. The more time passed, the more damage was dealt. Music stores? They're a thing of the past. They're abandonded. Strange, kids are reading a lot of books in the future. The lack of technology and toys makes them want to learn for fun. Schools are doing great. It's a shame all of their talents go towards winning the war. The only TV we have is the news and the weather channel. There were a few close calls and I got hit quite a few times, but I made it out alive. There were days I felt like giving up, but it was the little things that kept me going, like that one time Sonic put a "Do Not Eat" sticker on my C4, or that one time we played "sweep and clear" in the rooms at the facility with the brooms and mops while we were on janitor duty. Even if it was just that, it gave me hope. And then, everything changed one day when I figured out the last piece of the formula.

 **October 16, 2058:**

It's my 74th birthday, and yet somehow, I'm not dead. Like this Earth, we both have one foot in the grave, but alas, there is a glimmer of life if you squint hard enough. Sonic already died a few years back and so did Knuckles. I had a few close calls myself, but soon enough, it won't matter. I finished the **time machine**. I'm not gonna tell the others because this is something that I need to do by myself. It's only a matter of time before it's built. Although, it could take longer since the materials are hard to find.

 **January 1, 2060:**

"It's done, sir.", said the G.U.N soldier. "Finally ( _And I hope no one in the future ever has to go through any of this_ )". I went back to the day before the incident that changed my life forever: May 5, 2007.

 **Chapter 12: The Final Chapter**

"...Take care of yourself buddy." "You too." There was no time to explain to my past self what had happened. There was only enough time for me to get to Zero before my past self presses that button.

 **May 6, 2007:**

I arrived at his fortress just in time. Although, there was only 1 robot. I guess the war helped him grow. I take the shot easily and it goes down. I made it just in time. I place the charges just like we did the first time. ...3 ...2 ...1 detonate. ***BOOM*** There he was, with the same shotgun. "What?! This doesn't make any sense! How did you find me?!", he said. I knew this was only gonna end one way. A friend of mine who worked in G.U.N once taught me this trick as a last resort. You keep a grenade in the back of your dominant leg. Enter with your hands behind your back and one hand holding the grenade with one finger through the pin. When he yells "put your hands up!" You put them up backwards. When he asks you to turn them around, let go of the pin as you turn them around. "As a famous man once said: **Hasta la vista, baby**." "You motherfu-" ***BANG!***

Maybe it was at that moment that I finally found peace.

Someone once asked me what the meaning of true friendship was. I told him it was about two people who loved each other so much that they would die for each other. No, it's not marriage, it's just having known them for so long that you can't imagine life without them. They helped shape you into the person you are today and guided you through life. That's why it had to be this way. I want them to live in a world that is much better than the one I knew before I died.

 **Epilogue:**

I woke up at 6:00 AM and turned off the alarm as usual. In short, when I went to the security room today, I thought I heard myself on the other side of the radio. I heard what seemed to be my future self die along with the bad guy, or at least that's what I thought when I briefly heard an explosion. We eventually found the G.U.N soldiers and rescued them, mostly due to the fact that the jammer was gone and we could trace the source of the video. It all felt like too much to take in. What happened in the future? Why did I die? I made a plan with Sonic that, once we found the right place, we'd move out of here. And we did, 6 years later. It's a peaceful and remote place. Of course, we were accompanied by a certain rival, but I suppose it keeps things interesting.

 **THE END**

(Tails lives on in his past self with no recollection of what happened after that day and begins a new and improved future.)

(Author's note: I decided to move here from Wattpad because it has a larger community and it's aimed more towards what I write. I kept the same username to avoid any confusion. If you want to, I'd recommend reading the third story I published, which is called _Sometimes You Still Lose_. I would say it was a good story. It's not quite as long as this one, but it's not that short either. Thanks for reading!)


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